GRAND MARAIS, MINNESOTA

June 3, 2007

Last year the Snowshoe Hare population exploded and we had rabbits running all over the park. Between the hares and the Franklin Ground Squirrels I knew we would eventually have a lot of fox move in. This year we have two dens located close to the food source. One den is along the river and the other one is just outside the Visitor Center. The first den had three fox kits and the second one had four. We don’t see many rabbits now.

You Have Bad Breath

I was hopping that the fox kits would hang around so that more people could see them, especially the ones by the Visitor Center. The mom built the den only about 50 feet off the sidewalk. She must not have been very scared of people. We even dropped trees on both sides of the den while clearing some hazardous trees and didn’t even know the mother was in the den with the young. Nobody noticed them until the little ones were already a few weeks old and started coming out along the hillside to play. We had to put a sign up “Fox Den Please Stay Back”. Several hundred people got to see them but now it looks like they have moved further down the hill since the den seems to be empty.

Have You Seen My Mom

I was able to get some good photos on Friday with my spotting scope while the little ones were playing outside the den. Fox kits are so cute and seem so happy when playing together.